Template:Character The planeswalker Nicol Bolas is the most powerful of the Elder Dragons to survive the Dragon War. And during his prime he was considered the most powerful planeswalker of the Multiverse.
Dragon War and ascension
Twenty-five thousand years before the Brothers' War, the Elder Dragons were engaged in a conflict called the Dragon War. Nicol Bolas emerged victorious and during this time became a planeswalker.
Some thousands of years later, Bolas fought against a demonic leviathan in the first duel between planeswalkers on the still-young plane of Dominaria. The fight lasted a month, reduced Madara to a third of its former size, and created the first rift. In the end the dragon used his magic to defeat his foe. After the battle Bolas feasted on the remains of the leviathan over the course of a year, absorbing its power in the process. When he finished, not much was left besides what eventually became known as the Talon Gates.
Madaran Emperor
On Madara three mana lines, blue, black and red, intersect at a single point. Bolas took over the Empire of Madara and erected his Imperial Shrine on this focal point, reigning for 400 years as a god-emperor.
Using the Meteor Hammer spell, Tetsuo Umezawa destroyed the Imperial Shrine. When the dragon chased him, following him to the Meditation Plane, he was killed by Umezawa in his weakened state. A remnant of his life force still lingered in the rift by the coast.
Time rifts
Bolas remained present in his land during the time rifts, existing under the name of Sensei Ryu. His home was overrun by cat-dragons (nekoru) and their followers. When he sensed that Teferi was lost in a rift and had left behind his companions he arranged for them to arrive on the Madaran beach near the Talon Gates. Using Venser's spark he was able to escape his prison and was reborn. After Teferi located his companions, he challenged the dragon to a duel in an effort to stay his revenge. Bolas easily won, but when Teferi shared his thoughts with him he saw the severity of the rifts. He quickly left and swore a vow to take vengeance by destroying anyone related to the Umezawa line, and anyone who had ever come into contact with it, then presumably left to Kamigawa.
Bolas returned to Madara, where he was ambushed by Leshrac, who challenged him to a planeswalker duel; the latter was defeated and imprisoned in the mask of the Myojin of Night's Reach. It was implied by Bolas that he had stripped most of that spirit's powers but she had managed to escape.
After closing the Madaran rift, Bolas left for an unknown destination, believing that nothing could stop the collapse of the multiverse and claiming that he has devised a plan for himself to stay safe if that case happened. Although the multiverse survived, Jeska's Mending spell changed the nature of the planeswalker's spark. Since the laws of planeswalkerdom were fundamentally changed by this, Bolas, like possibly all other "old planeswalkers" who are still alive after the Mending, lost a significant part of his powers. Still, he supposedly retains his Elder Dragon powers.
Involvement in Alara
After the Mending, Bolas lost a significant portion of his powers and abilities, but managed to find the broken plane of Alara into Shards. There he prepared to take advantage of the Conflux to increase his powers, and started to manipulate certain individuals and organizations:
- Bant: Order of the Skyward Eye and Gwafa Hazid to spread xenophobia and disorder along the borderlands of Bant's nations.
- Esper: Seekers of Carmot leading them to warn Esperites about dwindling supplies of etherium, and creating a fervent demand for an otherworldly red stone called carmot.
- Grixis: Malfegor to lead massive armies of the undead, getting the hordes ready to invade the other shards and cut chaotic swaths through any living resistance they find.
- Jund: Rakka Mar to whip up an itch for greater and greater "life hunts" among the warrior clans there.
His actions in Naya haven't been revealed yet, but it is believed they are related to Jazal's murder.
Agents of Artifice
It is revealed that Nicol survived the mending, and has founded an interplanar consortium, the control of which was later stolen from him by Tezzeret the Seeker. In the time of the book, Bolas dwells on the Grixis, apparently still needing rich sources of blue, red and especially black mana to feel comfortable. He still retains his mind-reading ability. He is said to be 25 000 years old in this book.
Cards
Nicol was originally printed as a creature in Legends, and reprinted in Chronicles, Time Spiral, and From the Vault: Dragons, the last featuring new artwork.
He will be printed as Planeswalker card type in Conflux with the type Bolas meaning there may be possible new versions of him will be printed in the future.